All very well getting off the track and writing about something different but often the outlets want to run stories about places that advertise with them (cruise lines, the tourist boards, package holiday organisations).
The other question to consider – another time – is individual trips hosted by tourist boards. You are going to get more variety – including b&bs, which is good. But you get to stay not in the best places, but those who have paid their registration fees (or whatever) are next up on the cab rank. That's less good.
Yes that's very true. I also often think that tourist boards don't actually know where the most interesting places in their countries are and so continue to promote the same destinations (Peru is a great example of this), thus not doing themselves any favours
This is why I'm glad we're got our Substack and are full time travelers. We are able to simply write what we want about the places we visit without being beholden to anyone other than our readers. I know most people aren't able to live this way, which makes us very fortunate.
Would be interested to read how you got the critical mass rolling with your Substack readership and managed the transition to paid subscriptions! I’ve done some occasional blogging on Wordpress and recently switched over, so looking for ways to actively spread the word about decidedly uncommercial travel essays.
Consistent posting and a value proposition are the two core strategies that we've employed. It's really important that your readers get value for money; you can't always expect people to pay for the joy of reading your posts, imo. It's got to be an exchange of value.
100%. We stick to a very regular posting schedule and genuinely try to give them a value. And it seems to be working. A recent paywalled post with a lot of info garnered us 40 new subscriptions, including six paid.
Well said. I have thought about doing freelance travel writing, but questioned the payment for the effort of writing the story and the pitch
All very well getting off the track and writing about something different but often the outlets want to run stories about places that advertise with them (cruise lines, the tourist boards, package holiday organisations).
The other question to consider – another time – is individual trips hosted by tourist boards. You are going to get more variety – including b&bs, which is good. But you get to stay not in the best places, but those who have paid their registration fees (or whatever) are next up on the cab rank. That's less good.
Yes that's very true. I also often think that tourist boards don't actually know where the most interesting places in their countries are and so continue to promote the same destinations (Peru is a great example of this), thus not doing themselves any favours
This is why I'm glad we're got our Substack and are full time travelers. We are able to simply write what we want about the places we visit without being beholden to anyone other than our readers. I know most people aren't able to live this way, which makes us very fortunate.
Yes indeed. I'm in a similar position because of my blog but this is just not the case for so many travel writers.
Would be interested to read how you got the critical mass rolling with your Substack readership and managed the transition to paid subscriptions! I’ve done some occasional blogging on Wordpress and recently switched over, so looking for ways to actively spread the word about decidedly uncommercial travel essays.
Consistent posting and a value proposition are the two core strategies that we've employed. It's really important that your readers get value for money; you can't always expect people to pay for the joy of reading your posts, imo. It's got to be an exchange of value.
100%. We stick to a very regular posting schedule and genuinely try to give them a value. And it seems to be working. A recent paywalled post with a lot of info garnered us 40 new subscriptions, including six paid.
Thanks for the quick and helpful replies!